Flowers in the Window

(Sister Cummings)

First off a scripture.

"And now, verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your trustin that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit." D&C 11:12

I wanted to take the time to talk about the Holy Ghost. He is the third member of the godhead, whom unlike Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ does not have a body of flesh and bones. He testifies of the Father and the Son and through him we may receive all personal revelation. Though we may sometimes feel the influence of the spirit leading us to do good, it is only after baptism where we receive the ordinance of the gift of the holy ghost. This is a promise that we make with God that his spirit will always be with us as we are obedient to his laws. The Holy Ghost inspires us, just as this scripture says, to choose the right and do good.

As a missionary I rely very heavily on this spirit. It guides me and other missionaries to those who are ready for our message or just need help.

I would like to share two different stories that happened this week. The first starts in the last half hour of our day, after we had passed the entire afternoon passing by every single, less active, Former, and even member in the area yet NO ONE WAS HOME. Needless to say we were frustrated. So channeling this frustration we starting posing uplifting text messages for the sisters that we visit teach. In doing so Sister Rawlings, my companion, spotted a woman walking on the empty sidewalks. She turned to me and asked if she should get out and talk to the lady. Kind of distracted I told her to go ahead and do it. She started to unbuckle her seat but seeing that the lady was almost past, chickened out and buckled back in. It was then that we both realized that it was in fact a prompting of the spirit that we had not followed. But our disappointment didn't last long for just afterwards there is a tap on Sister Rawling's window and the woman is holding one of the most beautiful flowers in the world. The woman's name was Nazli and she had just happened to have this flower in her pocket. We had a wonderful discussion with her and will be seeing her this week to teach her more of the restored gospel.

The second has to do with our investigator Vanessa, who sadly was not baptized this past Saturday but will most definitely be baptized the 24th. We had invited a member to teach her with us. We hadn't exactly thought of this but it turned out that this member who had three months ago lost her husband in an accident, was helping us teach about eternal marriage. There came a moment where the spirit told me to ask her a question. I immediately dismissed it thinking the question would be too difficult or too hurtful. Then yet again the prompting came. Realizing that this was from the holy ghost I turned to the member and asked what it meant for her to be able to be sealed with the one she loved for eternity. What then followed was the strongest most spirit filled testimony of my entire mission.

I know that this church is true. There is no doubt in my mind that we hold the authority to baptize and thus receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. I have seen it in action. I have seen the reactions. Every fiber in my body bids me to testify that I know that Joseph Smith was called of God to restore the beloved gospel of Jesus Christ to the Earth. I know that through him we also received the fullness of God's priesthood. I know this and I wish every person on this Earth the chance to know this. That is why I am here on my mission. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen